August 15/98 6:56 am - Adrenalin Update, Correction

Posted by Editor on 08/15/98

Adrenalin Update(courtesy Janet R. of Trilife)

It's a hot one out here today as over 2000 riders participate in the Kokanee 24 Hrs of Adrenalin at Hardwood Hills (just outside of Barrie, Ontario). There are 354 teams entered in this race, that is now the largest mountain bike festival in Canada and the largest 24 hour race in North America (based on numbers of participants). There are so many exciting things happening here this weekend.that it will take several updates over the weekend to get it all in. But let's start at the beginning. Over 2/3rds of the teams arrived Friday to set up their pit areas and get ready for the big day today. There is a prize awarded at the end of the weekend for the best pit area and this is one of the reasons this event has been called the Woodstock of Mountain Biking. There are hundreds of pit areas where teams set-up and camp-out for the three day festival.

As for the start of the race, it began at noon with the traditional LeMans style running start of about 500 m before the riders could get out on their bikes and hit the 18 km course. The course itself does a figure 8 so that spectators can watch their riders come close to the transition area at least once before finishing a lap. There is a lot of single track on the course this year and the Coffee Run is one favourite yet challenging area for riders. Riders compete in a variety of categories (see standings below) and ride in relay fashion to see who can complete the most number of laps in the 24 hours. There was even a Gatorade 24 minutes of of Adrenalin for kids aged 6-13, where 25 kids raced a mini-lap (solo, of course).

Entertainment for the weekend includes GT Bicycles Hans 'no way' Rey who did really get the crowd going with his incredible trials stunts.

And now for the standings as of 4:40 pm.....4 hours and 40 minutes into the race.

And that's all for now folks. The race is typically very tight for the first 6 hours as folks are still fresh and the day is still bright. The most movement occurs through the night. Stay tuned for another update a little later! JR signing off.

Correction

As was pointed out to us, the doping investigation was the Dubin Inquiry, not the Krever Inquiry (that one was for tainted blood). Sorry about that.